Sand Dispensing Device for Vehicles and System Components for Such Sand Dispensing Devices

ABSTRACT

A sand dispensing device for vehicles has an exchangeable sand container and a sand outlet comprising a sand conduit for transporting sand from the sand container to a sand dispensing location. A container receptacle is provided that exchangeably secures the sand container.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a sand dispensing device for vehiclesas well as various system components for such sand dispensing devices.

Sand dispensing devices of the kind in question here are known and servefor dispensing sand, as needed, in particular in case of rail vehiclesand buses, for increasing grip of the wheels on slippery surfaces forthe purpose of improving the braking action.

It should be noted in this connection that the corresponding devices,because of the fact that in general sand is being dispensed, are oftenreferred to as sand dispensing devices (sanders); however, with suchdevices also any other bulk material can of course be dispensed forobtaining the desired effect. Thus, when in this application, in stayingwith conventional terminology, in the following reference is being hadto sand and sand dispensing device, this terminology does not imply anylimitation to sand as a bulk material to be dispensed.

The known sand dispensing devices comprise always a sand container andcan be differentiated with respect to so-called open and closed systems,depending on whether the sand container in operation is under pressureor not. In case of open systems, the sand in general is dispensed bygravity from the sand container through a dispensing outlet with a sandconduit in which it is conveyed, by means of compressed air, to thelocation of application. Such open systems are disclosed, for example,in DE 42 38 049 A1, DE 44 29 370 A1, DE 100 44 608 A1, and DE 202

However, filling of sand containers of the known kind is surprisinglycomplex. For filling, flap openings are provided in general on theexterior skin of the vehicles by means of which the sand containers canbe filled. In order for such sand containers to be filled, complex andexpensive filling devices are required that are available only at a fewservice stations so that a vehicle must make a separate trip to suchstations and therefore is not available during this time for regularscheduled operation, for example, in public transportation. In case ofsome sand dispensing devices there are so-called emergency fill openingsin the interior of the vehicle in order to be able to fill in urgentrefill situations the respective sand reservoir outside of a servicingstation; such fill openings are however generally difficult to reachand/or difficult to open, for example, seats must be removed beforeaccess is possible. DE 202 00 997 U1 discloses that it is necessary forfilling to remove the entire sand dispensing device including sandoutlet and valve means from the vehicle.

When filling sand containers of the known kind, there is also often asignificant dust and dirt loading. When the filling action is done inthe interior of the vehicle, cleaning of the interior of the vehicle isalways required subsequently.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to enable refilling of sandparticularly in case of open systems in a simpler, cleaner, and lessexpensive way.

In accordance with the present invention, this is achieved in that thesand container is configured as an exchangeable (interchangeable orreusable) container and in that a container receptacle is provided forexchangeably securing the sand container.

The present invention also concerns a sand container for a sanddispensing device for vehicles provided with a sand outlet opening thatis closable by a first closure and preferably also provided with a sandfill opening that is closable by a second closure.

The present invention further concerns a container receptacle for a sanddispensing device for exchangeably securing at least one sand containeras disclosed above, preferably with a device for automatically opening afirst closure of a sand container upon insertion of the sand containerinto the container receptacle.

The dependent claims set forth additional embodiments and features ofthe present invention.

The present invention has the advantage that special filling devices forvehicles are no longer required. The vehicles must no longer travel to asite where a filling device is provided. Moreover, the dust and dirtloading during filling, in particular when filling is done from theinterior of the vehicle is significantly lower.

Moreover, the invention enables by simple modifications and retrofittingwith appropriate container receptacles to make existing sand dispensingdevices refillable by means of exchangeable containers so that vehiclesfurnished therewith no longer must travel to a service facility for asand refill.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

Further details and advantages of the present invention result from thefollowing description, in connection with the drawing, of a non-limitingembodiment that is to be understood as being purely exemplary in nature.

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a sand dispensing device according tothe invention at the point in time where the sand container is in aposition immediately before being inserted into the containerreceptacle.

FIG. 2 is a sand dispensing device according to FIG. 1 with the sandcontainer inserted into the container receptacle.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective illustration of the sand dispensingdevice according to FIG. 2 viewed at an angle from the rear.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows in a simplified schematic drawing the principalconfiguration of a sand dispensing device according to the inventionwith a container receptacle 1, a sand container 2, a compressed airsource 4, and a sand outlet 5 with a sand conduit for transporting sandfrom the sand container to a sand dispensing location.

The sand container is embodied as an exchangeable container and, when itis to be used, is inserted into the container receptacle 1 that isembodied for exchangeably securing the sand container. The containerreceptacle comprises in this embodiment, inter alia, the sand outlet 5and valve means, not illustrated; for opening and closing the sandconduit, the valve means are automatically actuated or actuated manuallyby a driver of the vehicle provided with the sand dispensing device. Forrefilling, the sand container can be removed from the containerreceptacle and separated from the sand outlet 5 in a simple way.

In order to attach the sand container 2 to the container receptacle 1 ina detachable (releasable) way, for example, a connection comprised of aninner thread and an outer thread can be provided wherein the sandcontainer is provided with an outer thread and the container receptacleis provided with an inner thread. In particular in situations whenscrewing on the sand container 2 is difficult, the connection may alsobe embodied as a bayonet connection. Also, connecting means such assnap-on closures, tensioning belts and the like can be used for fixationof the sand container in the container receptacle.

In order for the sand to be able to exit from the sand container 2, thesand container has a sand outlet opening that can be closed by a firstdosure 6. The sand dispensing device in the illustrated embodiment isprovided with a device 7 for automatically opening the first closure 6so that upon insertion of the sand container 2 into the containerreceptacle 1 the first closure 6 is opened and sand is able to exit.

The first closure 6 of the sand container 2 can be embodied as a simplemembrane that can be punctured and that upon insertion of the sandcontainer into the container receptacle is punctured by the device 7that is adapted to automatically open the sand container. Such closuresare in particular advantageous when the sand container is embodied as asingle-use (disposable) container.

The first closure 6 of the sand container 2 may also be embodied like aniris diaphragm as it is known in connection with photo cameras or in theform of a slide, wherein these closure elements upon removal of the sandcontainer from the container receptacle may close or be closedautomatically (for example, by providing an appropriate pretensionedspring). Accordingly, the device 7 for automatically opening the firstclosure 6 can be embodied, for example, as a lever or a hook so that thefirst closure is pulled into an open position upon insertion of the sandcontainer into the container receptacle and, upon removal insertion ofthe sand container from the container receptacle, is pushed into aclosed position. Such a configuration has advantages in particular incase of reusable sand containers and enables also, for example, beforeembarking on an extended trip, to exchange as a precaution the sandcontainer without residual sand contained in the sand container escapingfrom the sand container and causing soiling. Also, with thisconfiguration it is possible to exchange, as needed, sand containersprovided on one vehicle when, for example, the sand reservoir of one ofthe drive action wheels is used up but the other sand containers of theother wheels still contain a satisfactory amount of sand.

In the illustrated embodiment, the sand container 2 has a sand fillopening which by means of the second closure 3 is closable. Such a sandfill opening not only makes it possible to reuse the sand containerseveral times but it enables also to manually refill the sand containerin exceptional situations, for example, when as a result of extremeweather conditions the sand in the container unexpectedly is alreadyrunning short but additional sand is needed for continuing the trip.

The sand container can be embodied as a single-use (disposable)container. As materials for such a single-use container in particularplastic (synthetic) materials are suitable. Single-use containersadvantageously have a minimal weight. They can be embodied inexpensivelyas a single-piece (monolithic) container wherein the sand outlet openingof the sand container is embodied simply as a plastic surface that canbe punctured.

The sand container can also be embodied as a reusable container.Reusable containers are preferably made of metal or a high-strengthplastic (synthetic) material.

The sand container has usually a volume to hold 5 kg to 15 kg of sand orother bulk material, preferably approximately 10 kg of bulk material. Inpractice, it has been found that a quantity of 5 kg to 15 kg of bulkmaterial even for increased sand use is an excellent compromise betweenthe required mounting space that should be as small as possible and asand fill as large as possible so as to require a refilling action asinfrequently as possible.

Also, a sand container provided with such a volume/weight can be easilyexchanged by a single person.

In order to keep the weight of the individual sand containers as smallas possible while, at the same time, providing a large sand volume, inpreferred embodiments of the invention several container receptacles,each holding one sand container, or a container receptacle that holdsseveral sand containers is provided. Also, the sand containers,depending on the situation within the vehicle to be furnished therewith,can be configured such that they can be coupled with each other, forexample, stacked on top each other in such a way that the sand outletopening of one sand container is inserted into the sand fill opening ofthe sand container arranged underneath.

When several container receptacles each holding one sand container or acontainer receptacle embodied for receiving several sand containers areprovided, wherein the sand containers have a common sand conduit, it maybe provided that the sand outlet opening of all containers open at thesame time so that the containers when using the sand dispensing devicewill empty more or less uniformly or suitable control means can beprovided in order to empty the containers sequentially.

The invention has the great advantage that existing sand dispensingdevices can be easily retrofitted, for example, in existing devices thecontainers can be removed and a container receptacle 1 can be added sothat operation with the sand containers according to the invention isenabled.

In the context of the present invention numerous modifications andfurther developments are possible. For example, in particular a sandcontainer made of metal can be designed such that in operation it can bepressurized, for which purpose a connection to a compressed air sourcemay be provided so that closed systems can be operated also withexchangeable sand containers and existing closed systems can beretrofitted to operate with exchangeable sand contain ers.

The specification incorporates by reference the entire disclosure ofGerman priority document 10 2010 000 453.7 having a filing date of Feb.18, 2010.

While specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed in detail to illustrate the inventive principles, it will beunderstood that the invention may be embodied otherwise withoutdeparting from such principles.

1. A sand dispensing device for vehicles, comprising: an exchangeablesand container; a sand outlet comprising a sand conduit for transportingsand from said sand container to a sand dispensing location; a containerreceptacle for exchangeably securing said sand container.
 2. The sanddispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said sand containercomprises a sand outlet opening and a first closure that closes saidsand outlet opening, wherein said sand container comprises a device thatautomatically opens said first closure when said sand container isinserted into said container receptacle.
 3. The sand dispensing deviceaccording to claim 2, wherein said first closure is a membrane or aniris diaphragm.
 4. The sand dispensing device according to claim 1,comprising connecting means that detachably connect said sand containerand said container receptacle.
 5. The sand dispensing device accordingto claim 4, wherein said connecting means is an inner threat/outerthread connection or a bayonet closure.
 6. The sand dispensing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said sand container comprises a sand fillopening and a second closure that closes said sand fill opening.
 7. Thesand dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said sand containeris a single-use container.
 8. The sand dispensing device according toclaim 7, wherein said sand container is comprised of plastic material.9. The sand dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said sandcontainer is a reusable container.
 10. The sand container according toclaim 8, wherein said sand container is comprised of metal.
 11. The sanddispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said sand container isembodied to contain approximately 5 kg to 15 kg of bulk material. 12.The sand dispensing container according to claim 11, wherein said sandcontainer is embodied to contain approximately 10 kg of bulk material.13. The sand dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein several ofsaid container receptacle are provided and said container receptacleseach are configured to receive one of said sand container.
 14. The sanddispensing device according to claim 1, wherein said containerreceptacle is adapted to receive several of said sand container.
 15. Asand container for a sand dispensing device for vehicles, the sandcontainer comprising a sand outlet opening and a first closure thatcloses said sand outlet opening.
 16. The sand container according toclaim 15, comprising a sand fill opening and a second closure thatcloses said sand fill opening.
 17. A container receptacle for a sanddispensing device, adapted to exchangeably secure a sand containeraccording to claim
 15. 18. The container receptacle according to claim17, comprising a device that automatically opens said first closure ofsaid sand container during insertion of said sand container into thecontainer receptacle.